Mario Van Peeples’ “Posse” Coming Out On Blu-Ray June 7th

Mario Van Peeples' "Posse" Coming Out On Blu-Ray June 7th

In retrospect, Mario Van Peeples’ Posse is sort of like Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna. In other words, here was finally the film you’d been dying for – a traditional Hollywood period genre movie based on a real event, that was an answer to all those similar Hollywood films which failed to address the fact that black people had been heavily involved historically with the certain event.

In St Anna it was World War II, and with Posse it was the 19th Century American West

And finally, when you got the film… THEY BLEW IT!

Well O.K… hold on. I’m being too harsh. Posse isn’t THAT bad. I have to admit I find it really entertaining. I recall going to see it twice at advance screenings. I was just REALLY desperate for a black western, despite the fact that I wouldn’t exactly call Posse historically accurate.

And then there’s that scene still seared in my memory – that of an oiled-up, bare-chested, buffed up Mario, practicing with his guns. If Posse wasn’t the ultimate black western, one could argue that it’s perhaps the gayest one, making Brokeback Mountain look tame (Hey, no assumption on Mario, honest).

And it’s a million light years better than that other more recent black ghetto “keeping it real” western Gang of Roses, with LisaRaye and Bobby Brown (and if you haven’t seen that…you’re lucky).

So, all of this is to say that MGM/Fox Home Video is going to be releasing Posse on blu-ray, on June 7th. Despite everything I’ve said, I’m still getting it. I’m still desperate for a black western. And besides, maybe they finally fixed the bad audio mix problem in the film where the loud music and sound effects would at times drown out the dialogue. Hey, just like in a Spike Lee’s movie. Another thing both films have in common.